1. Field of Invention:
This invention relates generally to shoe boxes, and more particularly to a rigid shoe tote bag formed by interhinged twin shoe boxes in back-to-back relation provided with a handle.
2. Status of Prior Art:
The manner in which an article purchased in a retail establishment is thereafter hand carried home by the purchaser reflects on the establishment, for it may act to enhance or diminish its prestige, depending on how the article is packaged for this purpose. If, for example, a costly article of high quality is carried home in an ordinary shopping bag provided by the store and having the name of the store imprinted thereon, this does not make a favorable impression on those who see the bag. Because the bag is commonplace, the impression gained is that the store whose name appears on the bag carries articles of ordinary quality.
Those stores which are sensitive to the correlation that exists in the minds of potential customers between the quality of its goods and the manner in which these goods are hand carried by purchasers pay a great deal of attention to their shopping bag design. Stores recognize that shopping bags represent, as it were, a walking advertisement, and exercise as much care in bag design as they do in preparing an ad for display in a quality publication.
Shoes represent a difficult problem in this respect, for they are normally stored in shoe boxes, each housing a pair of shoes. In the typical retail shoe store or boutique where a large inventory must be maintained of shoes in different sizes and styles, the shoe boxes are stacked on shelves. When a customer selects and purchases a particular pair of shoes, the customer is then asked how he or she would like to carry away the shoes.
If the customer would prefer the smallest possible package, the shoes are then placed in a plastic pouch having a drawstring which also functions as the handle. While such pouches may be attractively designed and reflect well on the store, they offer no protection to the shoes. Where the shoes are of the high fashion type and are relatively delicate, a pouch is not a suitable carrier therefor.
In a conventional shoe box which accommodates a pair of shoes, each shoe in the pair is separately wrapped in tissue paper before being placed in the box to prevent the shoes from rubbing against each other. But in a pouch, unless the shoes are separately wrapped before being inserted therein, one shoe may abrade the other in the course of transit, with possible damage to a fine leather finish.
Alternatively, after being purchased, the boxed shoes may be covered with an attractive wrapper to which a handle is tied. But this is a time-consuming procedure. Or the boxed shoes may be placed in an attractive shopping bag. Although this offers better protection than a pouch, it still leaves something to be desired, for the bag for this purpose must be large enough to receive the shoe box, and the resultant carrier is cumbersome and awkward to carry.
The need exists, therefore, for a protective hand carrier for shoes which is compact and attractive, and which is free of the drawbacks found in prior carriers for this purpose.
The need also exists for a hand carrier which can be used when the owner wishes to take along an extra pair of shoes to a dance or other social occasion. If the owner is fashionably dressed for this occasion, it would be unseemly for the owner to carry a shoe box under his arm.